When it comes to giving holiday gifts to your pets, forget the stocking stuffer, they’d probably rather just eat the stocking anyway. And those slobbery, furry friends are so awesome, don’t they deserve more than just a new bone?
We've rounded up a list of techy gift ideas purr-fect for your constant companion.
Petzi Treat Cam
Want to know what your pets are up to when you’re at work or out running errands? The Petzi Treat Cam is a Wi-Fi-connected camera that lets you check in from an app on your smartphone or tablet to see which furry friend is lounging on the couch or rummaging through the garbage.
When you launch the app, a jingle chimes from the camera beckoning your pet, or you can talk to and hear your pet through the app. One tap on your phone dispenses a treat which, of course, brings silly faces peering into the camera for more.
You can’t record video but you can snap pictures to share with your family or post on Petzi’s social site or #Catstagram.
Petcube Play
For those days when nothing but playing with your cat will make you feel better, and you’re stuck at an airport or in the office, there’s Petcube Play. Like Petzi, it’s an interactive Wi-Fi camera that lets you check in on your pets using an iOS or Android mobile app.
For added fun, and we’re not quite sure who has more fun; pets or humans, you can remotely play a game of laser tag with your cat by tracing your finger on your phone’s screen. It streams in 1080p HD video and has two-way audio so you can not only talk to your pets, you can hear them purring back at you. Now that will put a smile on your face!
The camera itself is small and attractive and comes in rose gold, black or silver. There’s an optional fee-based cloud video recording service or you can record live videos through the app and save them to your mobile device.
BarkBox
Humans enjoy those monthly subscription boxes filled with goodies like the wine or beer-of-the-month club or a basket full of gourmet treats but we’re guessing you don’t share these with your constant companion. BarkBox is a box filled with curated goodies for your dogs, with offerings such as chew toys, tasty treats and other engaging play toys.
You can sign up for a monthly subscription, and help them customize the box for your dog’s size and tastes, or send your favorite grand-doggy a one-time gift for the holidays.
HEXBUG Robotic Cat Toys
When you finally get to stay home and enjoy playing with your cats in person, you’ll get hours of fun with HEXBUG’s robotic cat toys.
The HEXBUG NanoRobotic Cat Toy is a small HEXBUG toy that scoots across the floor using vibration technology, dragging a furry tail behind. If your cat manages a swipe at it with a paw, it can right itself and scurry off again.
The HEXBUG Mouse Robotic Cat Toy is a fuzzy, pink-eared mouse with an on/off switch. When turned on, its tail wiggles back and forth as it scampers across the floor and, like a real mouse, stops and starts randomly as it’s being chased.
You can’t get more fun than this for under $10.
Plantronics BackBeat PRO 2
Technically, this is a human gift, but anything that provides more playtime outside for the dog is a great pet gift too. The new BackBeat PRO 2 wireless headphones from Plantronics have on-demand active noise cancelling which means they’ll drown out the background noise on an airplane but allow you to hear your surroundings when at the dog park or walking down the street.
Simply turn on open-listening mode so you can hear all the happy barking or talk to other pup-owners. With 24 hours of battery life you have no reason to come home until your dog is tuckered out.